In the end, it was the numbers that killed the South Side Irish Parade.

Nearly a dozen officers assaulted.

Fifty-four people arrested.

More than 300,000 people crammed along a 24-block stretch.

When confronted with those figures at their annual wrap-up meeting Tuesday, the South Side Irish Parade Committee deviated from its agenda and took an unplanned vote to end the parade. In a community where ties to law enforcement are valued as much as Irish ancestry, the event's fate seemed certain.

On Thursday, a day after committee members announced the end of the 30-year-old parade, they offered glimpses into the meeting where the decision was made.

"We fought hard to keep this going," said Kevin Norris, a committee member who marched in the first parade at age 9. "It's just come to the point where it was too rowdy."

Though the group often discussed the huge crowds and drunken revelry, they had never taken a vote before Tuesday night, members said. Several members, however, called for one after listening to Chicago police reports from this year's event. After an occasionally tearful debate, members narrowly voted to suspend the event.

"It was rough," Norris said as his voice choked with emotion. "Nobody wanted to see it go away. Then again, nobody wanted to see something horrible happen because we didn't know when to end it."

Beverly and Morgan Park residents, whose streets and yards bore the brunt of the crowds, appeared largely supportive of the move. Phone calls to Ald. Virginia Rugai's 19th Ward office were more than 10 to 1 Thursday in favor, city officials said.

But other Chicagoans railed against the decision with Internet protests and talk-radio calls. Columbia College student Erin Redmond, 20, had collected more than 1,500 signatures for an online petition aimed at reinstating the parade. In addition to denying her an opportunity to celebrate her heritage, the event's demise also will have a financial impact on her family's Irish-themed shop in Orland Park, which benefits from spectators purchasing parade gear, she said.

"It's just insane to think that this year was the last year we will ever get to attend the parade, something that has brought so many good memories over the years," she wrote in an e-mail.